MartinB comments on Open Thread: May 2010 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: Jack 01 May 2010 05:29AM

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Comment author: MartinB 01 May 2010 01:02:29PM 2 points [-]

Question: How do you apply the rationalist ideas you learned on lesswrong in your own (professional and/or private) life?

Comment author: Bo102010 01 May 2010 02:52:08PM 4 points [-]

I remind myself of Conservation of Expected Evidence most days I'm at work.

I'm an engineer, and it helps remind me that a data point can either support a hypothesis or that hypothesis's opposite, but not both at once. This is especially useful for explaining things to non-technical people.

Comment author: ShardPhoenix 01 May 2010 03:40:01PM 2 points [-]

I think learning more about rationalization, akrasia, and so forth, has made it easier for me to keep regularly going to the gym, by noticing when I'm just making excuses for being lazy, etc.

Comment author: [deleted] 03 May 2010 07:17:27PM 1 point [-]

I really should start working on applying akrasia techniques, but I just haven't the willpower :P

That aside, I regularly remind myself to not be like Bruce in games like Risk and Magic, and probably in some other actives where he might show. And, as I posted before on this thread, making use of tabooing words and learning how an algorithm feels from the inside have helped clear up discussions when they'd otherwise be going back and forth with no understanding.

I always enjoy these kinds of questions, because when I ask myself, I have a harder time finding areas where I use what I learned here, than I do when someone else asks.